Elegy For A Lost World
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2016
Published In
Post-Traumatic Public Theology
Abstract
How are we to suffer with—and amidst—the loss of our earthly habitat and its despoilment through ecocidal economic and political policies? This essay engages biblical texts in order to claim that Earth is an inherently valuable organism with the capacity to feel and suffer. Turning to Jesus’ mudpie ritual in John 9, I recover it as a story of palpable holiness in which the sacred elements of dirt and spit—like bread and wine in traditional Christian liturgy—are God’s holy means of grace and healing. I conclude that cultivating an attitudinal disposition toward Earth, as holy ground, is the basis for healing the suffering among ourselves and the wider community of living beings.
Published By
Springer International
Editor(s)
S. N. Arel And S. Rambo
Recommended Citation
Mark I. Wallace.
(2016).
"Elegy For A Lost World".
Post-Traumatic Public Theology.
135-154.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40660-2_7
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-religion/346